Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Judge Strikes Down Health Care Law

President Obama has been dealt the broadest rejection yet to his universal health care bill.

Judge Roger Vinson ruled that the President and his 2010 Congressional majority breached the Constitution when they passed the law.

Vinson ruled in favor of the 26 states who have argued the individual mandate to purchase insurance went beyond Congress' authority as granted by the Constitution.

Washington State is one of the 26.

In his ruling, Judge Vinson quoted James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and made references to the Boston Tea Party.

The far left and the Obama administration are now calling his constitution-based ruling "activist" and asking others to do so as well.

In fact, an official from the Obama administration said these references were a "mark of weakness."

Understanding the Founder's original intent and learning from history has rarely ever been considered "weakness." Particularly by the administration of a sitting president.

I suppose we could call that "change."The Wall Street Journal reported that, "Judge Vinson wrote that the entire law must be voided because the individual insurance mandate is 'not severable' from the rest of the law. Some laws contain what's known as a severability clause that says the rest of the law stands should a judge strike down a piece of it. But Democrats left it out."

The Obama administration is saying that requiring Americans to carry insurance is within its constitutional powers.

But "candidate" Obama told Ellen DeGeneres and her TV audience on February 28, 2008, that unlike his opponent Hillary Clinton, he opposed forcing the uninsured to buy health insurance, saying that would be like forcing the homeless to buy homes.

Change.

The judge is saying "no". Under that theory, he says, "Congress could require that everyone above a certain income threshold buy a General Motors automobile---now partially government owned---because those who do not buy GM cars (or those who buy foreign cars) are adversely impacting commerce and a tax payer subsidized business."

Another problem the President has created for himself is that in his exuberance to reciprocate to friends, he has been passing out wavers to the very bill he has championed for all the rest of us. If it's so great, why do his friends want off the hook?

In case you missed it:

He has given waivers to the New York City teachers union. They spent $1.9 million on Obama's election.

He recently gave the SEIU 3 additional waivers. They spent $27 million backing Obama's election.

This is President Obama's signature legislation, yet those closest to him are asking to get out. Why?

I'm sure there is a lengthy, elitist answer.

One thing seems certain. This is all headed to the Supreme Court.

Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, said, "This ruling confirms what Americans have been saying for months. The health spending bill is a massive over reach."

Why do people not see the duplicity in the health care bill. It doesn't affect members of congress or the president himself, but among those who are affected, his friends are all bailing out while he and the Democrats tell us how great it is.As Gary would say. Hypocricy.

Just a reminder, dumping the law would mean a return to preexisting conditions, the senior donut hole, etc.

Speaking as a lib, I can state that I don't like forcing people to buy insurance from private companies any more than you do.

Rather than just bash the bill, I'll propose a solution.

Get rid of the mandate and open Medicare to anyone who wants to buy in. Let me pay for Medicare. You can continue to use your private insurance company if you prefer. You can even let the private companies go back to preexisting conditions, etc. Just let anyone who wants Medicare buy into it. The for profit insurance companies will fight this idea with everything they have and that alone should tell you that it must be good for consumers.

We need health care reform, but Obamacare takes us way to close to socialism. Looking at other countries who have gone that direction, after a few yers their health care quality seems to deminish to where those who can afford it go to other countries for their health care.

Respectfully, my research finds that we have the 37th best health care in the world in total quality of care. I've heard the stories about people coming here, and that does happen. But dig into further and you'll find that it's also true for France, Sweden, etc.

Regarding health outcomes, the best models appear to be a universal system for the majority of heath care needs with private supplemental insurance for the over the top or optional health care.

There's a lot of propaganda telling you how bad the other systems are but ask yourself just one question. If our private 'for profit' health care system is so great, why hasn't any other country ever copied it?

Gary I don't know if you like having people post links to other sites, but the person previous to this comment who brings up the WHO's survey where we rank 37th, might find this article interesting. It refutes the ranking and shows how organizations such as WHO use these numbers to undermine the United States, much like everything else that comes out of the UN does.http://themadpiper.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/healthcare-myths-and-misleading-factoids-from-the-left/

Vanessa. Normally we do not approve posts with links, regardless of the link. However, we approved yours because it is a known link and we felt it contributed substantially to the thread.Faith and Freedom Staff

If WHO is lying, where do you find comparisons as to how much health service we are getting in the USA for the high percentage of income spent on insurance, medical costs, and hospitalization?A few years ago, many of us bailed out of Blue Cross because of their substantial hikes in premiums and cuts in benefits; and this right after an item hit the news about company perks and bonuses for executives and managers, who were flown to, and wined and dined in five star hotels at their convention in Florida. I then insured with Hospital Association of Portland, Oregon until they, for financial reasons, reduced their service area. I had good luck with another company, but resented having to pay extra "union dues", so now I'm back with BCBS. and their high premiums and high co-pays. No wonder many Americans take European or Asian "medical" vacations. We common folk can no longer afford US medical services. Rural central WA